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Even within the Erin Condren planner family, there are different options to choose from. Today I’m sharing all the differences and similarities between the Erin Condren Hardbound (now Softbound) and Coiled LifePlanners.
With every planner girl (and guy) in search of the elusive “planner peace,” it only makes sense that new ideas and new designs would surface to help fit any planner personality.
And it’s my job as a self-proclaimed planner expert to help you find the planner that most fits your planner personality and lifestyle.
Plus it gives me an excuse to try them all out. 😀
So today I’m bringing you an Erin Condren showdown between the long time favorite Coiled Life Planner, and the more recent (although has still been in the game for a few years) Erin Condren Hardbound Life Planner.
And check out my Youtube video showing both planners!
Plus, would now be a good time to mention that if you are new to Erin Condren and would like to purchase either of these (or any of her other planner options or accessories), you can get $10 by signing up for an account through my link. After signing up, you will receive an email with a code for $10 off your first purchase, and I will also get $10 credit that I can put towards bringing you more product reviews and ideas. 🙂
So let’s start off with some basics…
Erin Condren Coiled Life Planner
The Erin Condren Coiled Life Planner is definitely a classic. It comes in two sizes, 7×9 and 8.5×11 inches. And unless you have a ton of stuff to keep track of, I 100% recommend the smaller 7×9 version. 8.5×11 inch planners are massive! But that’s just my two cents. Take it for what it’s worth and always do what’s best for you.
The coil is metal and thick- these are not the coils that come on 10 cent notebooks in August at Walmart. They are nice coils! You have the option of choosing from 4 different colors of coils: Platinum (silver), Gold, Rose Gold, and Black. All colors except Platinum are a $10 upcharge.
And while we are talking about cost…
The 7×9 coiled Life Planner starts at $55, or $60 with a foiled cover.
The covers are interchangeable, which is perfect for someone like me who tends to get bored easily. I love just being able to switch out the cover without having to redo my entire planner.
Not that I don’t love a new planner. 😀
You can also choose to personalize your cover with your name, any wording that fits in the allotted characters, or nothing at all. There is no extra charge for personalizing your coiled covers.
For pretty much my whole life I always wondered why people liked to put their name on all their stuff. And now it is kinda growing on me. I guess I’m more narcissistic than I thought. 😂
To make it easy, this comparison is mostly between the 8×10 hardbound and the 7×9 coiled Life Planners because they are the most similar. Both have the vertical layout with three boxes, and a few lines at the bottom of each day.
Erin Condren Hardbound Life Planner
The Erin Condren Hardbound Life Planner is just what it sounds like – its a Life Planner, only with a hard, buttery smooth cover. Okay, maybe the buttery smooth part wasn’t as obvious. But it is. And it feels amazing! This is not your typical cardboard covered in paper cover. These are really nice covers! Plus, the inside cover is foiled, which is also awesome.
The hardbound comes in 4 different styles:
- Large 8×10 vertical layout, colorful
- Large 8×10 vertical layout, neutral
- Small 5×8 horizontal layout, colorful
- Small 5×8 horizontal layout, neutral
The large planners are only vertical (with the three boxes), and the small planners are only horizontal.
Large hardbound starts at $30, and the small hardbound is $25. The only upgrade option is to have your name (or any other words that fit) imprinted in foil on the cover for an extra $5 charge.
Similarities
So before diving into the differences, lets talk about how they are the same.
Both the Erin Condren Hardbound and Coiled Life Planners use the same paper. According to the website, it is 80# Mohawk paper. It’s a really nice paper! It is rather thick (although somehow you can still see nearby pages through it sometimes- but I’ve never had a problem with pen showing or bleeding through). It also has a slight texture to it.
I’ve experimented with some pens and found that gel pens (Pilot G2, Papermate Inkjoy Gel, and Pentel EnerGel) work the best. While thin, felt tip pens (Sharpie Pens & Staedtler) are kind of rough on it.
Another thing that I am happy to say is the same, is the interior design. I bought the neutral hardbound and the colorful coiled, so my two planners look different. But judging from the pictures on their website, the neutral coiled/hardbound and the colorful coiled/hardbound have the same interior design and layout. The only exception I can find to this is the amount and type of note pages in the back. But the calendar and planning pages are the same.
Differences
The main thing that I think needs to be mentioned with differences is the size. With the difference in overall size of the planner (7×9 vs 8×10) also comes a difference in size of the boxes.
The planner size itself isn’t too much of a difference in my opinion (to some it may matter more). But if you enjoy using lots of stickers in your planner, you are going to notice a big difference (and probably some frustration) when you try to use your sticker kits in the hardbound. The full box stickers fit just slightly smaller than the boxes of my neutral hardbound, so that isn’t too much of a problem for me. But the length and height at the top of the page is not going to look right when you try to fit the larger stickers across the top. Especially the ones with the days of the week built in.
With that being said, if you like your sticker kits, you might want to stick to the coiled Life Planner and save yourself the struggle.
Now here’s one that you might not have though of… but how much room do you have on your desk/table to lay out your planner? I don’t know about you, but I am very used to flipping my planner cover backwards so only half is visible at a time. The hardbound is not going to do that. It will lay open flat and take up some space. On the plus side, it does actually lay flat thanks to the stitched binding style.
The next difference I want to point out are the tabs. The coiled planner has monthly tabs, and a few others, to make it easy to find where you are going to in the planner. The hardbound doesn’t have tabs (probably because they would stick out too far), but it does come with an attached ribbon bookmark. I found that I didn’t mind the lack of tabs so much, and the ribbon was perfectly suited to help me find my place. And honestly, it stayed open most of the time anyway, so I rarely even needed to find a different page. I do wish that there were two ribbons though.
If you decide that you do want tabs, there are options like these from Erin Condren, or these from Amazon.
Going along those same lines, without the coil many of the accessories made for the Life Planner will not have any use in the hardbound version. Except for the ribbon bookmark, your best bet for marking your page are these magnetic bookmarks.
Let’s go back and talk about the note pages now. This is one of the areas where the hardbound completely won in my opinion. It has 6 lined pages, 6 dot grid, and 4 blank note pages. Compared to the coiled planner that has 4 lined, 4 dot grid, 3 coloring pages, and 1 page for contacts.
I really like my note pages, and would love to have a ton in there. I wish they offered more as an upgrade. I don’t even care what style they are, I just want to write lots of stuff down all the time without worrying about running out of room. When there are just a few pages, then I have to plan out carefully what I will use them for.
I’ve heard the most complaints about the coloring pages. I don’t really care that they are there. I might actually even color them in. But I do wish that more regular notes pages hadn’t been sacrificed for them. And I love having a contacts page. That is something I’m completely a fan of.
Now remember how we talked about the hardbound not having a coil, so coil things are useless? Well as a result, the hardbound Life Planner doesn’t come with all the extra goodies that the coiled planner does. Mainly:
- Snap in ruler
- Plan for it Pouch (and the things inside of it)
- Pocket in the back (not that it snaps in, but I’m sure its because of the binding that it can’t be included)
- Sticker sheets
- Perpetual calendar
That did make me a little sad, since I love all the random freebies that are included in orders from Erin Condren. But really, for half the price I guess something needed to be eliminated (since it definitely wasn’t the quality).
I’ve really enjoyed testing both the Erin CondrenHardcover and Coiled Life Planners. They each have their strengths and downsides, but overall they are both excellent and can each be perfect for different lifestyles.
Let me know if you have any questions about either planner! Which one do you prefer? How would it fit into your life?
